The trucking industry is inextricably tied to the general American economy. As fuel costs rise, the costs of the end product must also rise in order to compensate for the additional costs of delivery. This hurts the consumer and it hurts the trucking company or owner-operator that pays for fuel. Even company drivers don’t want to see rising fuel costs.

Unfortunately with the added costs of inflation, fuel costs are just one other problem for the wallets of ordinary people. And with recent international events, fuel costs may not be coming down any time soon.

Even worse, the rising fuel costs add onto existing problems of supply chain disruptions which potentially add to scarcity and costs.

This begs the question: Will fuel costs finally push American consumers to demand electric trucks that can not only handle local deliveries but all long-haul freight?

The benefits to the trucking industry are obvious. With electric vehicles, they could save massively on fuel costs at the expense of some extra time spent charging the vehicles. Electric vehicles, or even hybrid trucks, would also alleviate some pressure from politicians and activists to reduce carbon emissions.

The Biden Administration may not want to upset American consumers at the moment. Environmental concerns related to climate change, particularly the reduction of carbon emissions, however, remain a top priority for the White House.

Manufacturers are racing to get electric trucks out to market. The first semi-truck that can definitively handle the demands of OTR/long-haul driving could be an instant industry leader.

If rising fuel costs push that process even faster, then truck drivers may be charging, rather than refueling, their trucks sooner than we imagined.